The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1887-06-23
Those Battle Flags.
From the n. Y. Herald.

Those Battle Flags.
From the N. Y. Herald.
When making up our judgment
on an important matter it is better to
be cool than excited. The mere par
tisan seizes every opportunity to Gre
ate political capital and will use this
battle flag incident as stepping
stone to the attainment OF his person
al ambition. But the thoughtful
American citizen, whose motto is
with malice to toward none, with
charity for all" and who wishes to
form an opinion from cold facts rath-
er than hot prejudices, will look twice
before he leaps to conclusion.
Let us take a quiet view of the
situation. A large number of flags,
riddled with bullets-proof OF an un-
parallelled struggle in which the
South stoutly defended them, but
were compelled to give way to the
conquering onset of the Boys in Blue
were placed for safe keeping in
charge of the United States War De-
partment. They were the sacred rel
les Of fratricidal contest which left
behind it a million graves. They had
and always will have not to be meas
ured by bullion, but by the unquench-
ed and unquenchable spirit of patriot
ism which summoned our fathers and
sons, and even our sisters and wives,
to the battle field to do and die in de-
fence of the best government the sun
ever shone upon.
These tattered battle flags, some of
them borne by Northern troops, many
of them wrested from Southern regi-
ments, were for time on exhibition
in the Winder Building, in Washing
ton. For nearly score of years they
were one of the chief attractions in
the capitol of the country. Old SOL
diers sought them out and with flash
ing eyes, recOunted the scenes which
in this hurrying age are rapidly fad
ing from the nations memory, to be
preserved, however, on the glowing
page Of history. Strangers from
abroad gazed upon them as proof of the
ability of people without standing
army to create an army Of volunteers
by magic unknown in other coun-
tries and to protect their institutions
at all hazards.
At last, however, these battle flags
were packed away in boxes
and stored in cellar or attic
where access to them was i'm
possible. The time has arrived when
the spirit Of Charles Summers resolu
ton in the Senate, that "it is inexped
lent that the names of victories OBJ
tanned over our fellow citizens should
be placed on the regimental colors o
the United States" began to disspiatt
the fierce animcsities engendered by
war, Sumner read the problem Alright
but he was twenty years ahead of hi
time. He saw, and we all see it now
that = magnanimous victor can affort
to forget; that if North and South arr
to stand shoulder to shoulder in com
ing generations the fiery and terribl,
memories OF the past must be obliter
ated by the loyalty that was born whel
the family quarrel came to an end
That same policy was adopted b.
Mr. Cleveland, But he, too, is pos
sibly ahead of his time When th
national drill occurred in Washington
and he saw Northern and Southern
soldiers drawn up in line together tn
scene itself suggested the action whic
he afterward took He saw the rer
resentatives of the whole countr
from the lakes to the Gulf march i
review. Sectional differences had di,
appeared forever. Mason and Dixon
line no longer existed Slavery ha
been extingushed, North and Sout
stood for "liberty and Union, one an
inseperable, now and forever"
Perhaps he recalled the fact thi
the Ninth Connecticut Volunteers ha
given back to the Third Mississippi
the flag they captured from that reg
ment, and also the fact that the Coz
federates had returned their flag
the 164th New York Volunteers, al
other incidents Of like nature, whiC
show that the American people ca
fightlike heroes and forgive like brot
ers. With the consciousness that Il
spirit of unity is to be fostered, ths
sectional ties are to be strengthene
he leaped, too hastily perhaps, to Il